Wichita Mid-Continent Airport Renews Contract With Armstrong|Shank

via PRNewswire On Apr 16, 2009

WICHITA, Kan. , April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials with Wichita Mid-Continent Airport have extended an agreement for marketing and advertising services with Armstrong|Shank Marketing Advertising and Public Relations until February 2011 . The Wichita City Council unanimously approved the contract extension at its March 3, 2009 meeting.

"We're thrilled to continue this important work," says Susan Armstrong , president and CEO for Armstrong|Shank. "The airport has been a great client and partner and our staff remains dedicated to extending the brand message of the airport, which is convenience, friendliness and affordability."

Armstrong|Shank began working for Mid-Continent in March 2006 and launched the "It's a Breeze" campaign later that fall. One element of the firm's marketing effort was the creation of the Mid-Continent Courtesy Crew. The troupe of paid, part-time employees is on duty 18 hours a day assisting passengers with questions about flights, baggage and terminal information. Dressed in bright red coats, the courtesy crew is highly visible and a key component of Mid-Continent's customer service program. The Courtesy Crew began their duties in July 2006 .

Director of Airports Victor White summed up the Armstrong|Shank relationship saying, "These guys are great and the airport board shares that enthusiasm as well. The amount of product that they have produced, the creativeness, inventiveness and the success of this particular ad campaign has been outstanding and that's a reason we don't want to switch in the middle of the campaign. Their involvement and leadership has been above and beyond the call of any agency I've ever dealt with in 30 years of doing this at any other airports."

Since 2006, Mid-Continent has seen record passenger counts, increasingly low fares to western U.S. destinations through the addition of Frontier Airlines and since 2001 an 18% increase in the retention of local passengers who, in the past, used competing airports in Kansas City and Oklahoma City .